San Francisco Approves First “Neighborhood Urban Agriculture” Permit

Little City Gardens has been at the forefront of trying to find a legal path to sell what it grows in the city.

By Eli Zigas, Food Systems And Urban Agriculture Program Manager
SPUR – Ideas and Actions for a Better City
April 6, 2012

Excerpt:

On March 9, 2012, San Francisco issued its first zoning permit for “neighborhood urban agriculture.” The change of use permit, given to Little City Gardens, allows the small urban farming business to grow produce for sale at its three-quarter-acre market garden in the Mission Terrace neighborhood. It is the first permit issued under San Francisco’s pioneering urban agriculture zoning guidelines, which Mayor Lee signed into law in April 2011.

The permit is both a victory for Little City Gardens and the culmination of a multi-year effort to legalize commercial urban farming in residential neighborhoods in San Francisco. The permit, is, at its core, a simple recognition that the previously vacant lot is now being used to grow food according to basic guidelines.